Groups vs. Booking Websites: Investigating Collaborative Strategies Against Deceptive Patterns

Late-Breaking Work at ACM CHI '25
by Paul Preuschoff, Sarah Sahabi, René Schäfer, Lea Schirp, Marcel Lahaye, and Jan Borchers

Abstract

Deceptive (or dark) patterns are interface design strategies widely used in apps and online services that manipulate users into making decisions against their best interests. Prior work has explored their effects on individuals and potential countermeasures. We aimed to investigate how collocated groups of users handle deceptive patterns when they encounter them collectively. To this end, we observed seven groups of three users booking flights and rental cars together by browsing the same real websites on separate devices in the same room. We found users collaborating to address deceptive patterns by synchronizing, helping others, and through mutual comparisons. We provide first observations and insights into the strategies that emerge in groups dealing with deceptive patterns in social scenarios.

Authors

Paul
Preuschoff

Sarah
Sahabi

René
Schäfer

Lea
Schirp

Marcel
Lahaye

Jan
Borchers

Publications

    2025

  • Paul Preuschoff, Sarah Sahabi, René Schäfer, Lea Schirp, Marcel Lahaye and Jan Borchers. Groups vs. Booking Websites: Investigating Collaborative Strategies Against Deceptive Patterns.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '25 (Forthcoming), pages 9, Association for Computing Machinery, April 2025.
    BibTeX Entry

More Deceptive Design (Dark Patterns) Research

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